Let The Right One In
by Iwriteblackpeople
Summary: After Hours Rewrite! "I wish I was there with you." Sheila says. "I wish I could help you through this, but honey you're going to have to do this one on your own." She tells her. "No, she won't." Emily says." I've ensured that she won't." She says loosely.
1. After Hours

**Authors Note:** I'm prone to rewrites, don't hate me. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to writing. The writers of the television show display inconsistency with their writing, a few of them also show a lack of concern for my favorite character Bonnie Bennett.

I've already said that since Julie stole After Hours from us and gave it to _Delena_, **I'm stealing it and TVD back. **

And Bonnie Bennett will be at the center of it all.

I'm changing a few things, so sue me.

_I'm a broke college student, please don't sue me._

* * *

AU

Chapter 1: Pilot/After Hours

Bonnie Bennett glances up at the darkening sky, silently cursing the gray clouds hovering menacingly, promising a storm. She pulls her Navy blue cardigan close, folding her arms over her chest as she maneuvers around tall statues and headstones. Her boots crushing dried leaves against the grass gives her a satisfying crunch, alleviating the uneasiness that suddenly creeps upon her due to the silence surrounding the area. The cemetery isn't her favorite place during the day, and it's safe to say she finds the place less welcoming at night. She hadn't really intended to come here, the plan was to head directly to her apartment, possibly pull her roommates away from whatever engagements they had for the evening and talk them into a movie night. A shirtless Channing Tatum combined with Caroline Forbes' details of her latest date and listening to Elena gush over this new guy she's seeing could easily make her forget her trouble, if only for a moment.

Bonnie stops, sighing deeply as she reads the head-stone. It never ceases to surprise her, despite the fact that it's been two years. She still can't believe that Sheila Bennett is gone. Bonnie remembers that day so vividly; it's almost as if it happened yesterday. She'd been on her way back from hanging out at the grille with friends and when she'd entered her grandmother's home, everything looked exactly the same. She had her usual glass of red wine sitting on the coffee table, an opened spell book beside it, but the seat on the couch that Sheila usually occupied had been empty. Bonnie called out to her, as she ventured about the home, room from room looking for her.

She found her on the kitchen floor, her charcoal gray pantsuit stained crimson from the gaping wound in her neck. The image will never leave Bonnie's mind, it's painted there graphically and damn near every time she closes her eyes she sees it. The image haunts her. The investigators never found any fingerprints save for Bonnie's, her grandmothers and maybe a few from David Bennett, her father.

Bonnie sinks to her knees before the head-stone, using her hand to brush the dried leaves from the bottom of the stone, clearing a space for the bright yellow tulips. She sets them on the grass, falling backwards onto her bottom, glancing up once more at the sky, eyeing the black bird flying above her suspiciously before returning her attention to her grandmother's headstone. She clears her throat.

"My dad hasn't called me." She tells her. She used to feel silly, sitting here in a cemetery, speaking aloud to herself, but it helped to think that her grandmother, though deceased could still hear her. Bonnie likes to think that she's listening to her, and though she can't literally hear her grandmother's quips, she supplies them herself. Elena Gilbert, her best-friend and roommate had been the one to encourage her to visit her grandmother's grave.

"_It helps me." Elena told her. "I feel better after I go see my parents. Though they aren't physically here, they still live with me through spirit and memory."_

So, Bonnie took her friends advice, finding that she received comfort and quelled whatever was stressing her whenever she took the time to visit her grandmother. She made a date of it, coming to visit at the very least once a week to speak to her, to spill her heart and whatever was bothering her. Her grandmother's grave was sort of like her diary.

"I don't really expect him to." She tells her. "Ever since my mom left he's been different; distant. It got worse when you died. He came home for the funeral. A day later he was on a plane to Boston." She tells her grandmother. He'd stated that he couldn't neglect his responsibilities, his business being one of them, but he boarded that plane completely unaware that he was neglecting his most important responsibility: being a father to his daughter. And the fact that the last time she spoke to him was about two months ago should bother her, but it doesn't. It should hurt her the fact that she's losing her relationship with her father, but it doesn't. And when the relationship is hardly there from the start, it doesn't really hurt to lose it, right?

Bonnie sighs heavily, who is she kidding? It kills her that her father would rather deal with strangers and his employees than his daughter. He'd rather take calls from foreign investors across the Atlantic than send her a simple fucking text message, asking her how she is.

"He pays my tuition and thinks that's enough." Bonnie says. "I feel so stupid for even complaining." She says, catching a stray tear before it slides down her cheek. She doesn't want to cry, she isn't in the mood for tears. "They say be grateful for what you have because someone out there has it way worse, but… Even if I do that it doesn't change what I don't have." She says. "Does that make me a bad person? Does it make me a bad person for wanting more from my father than money being deposited into my account?"

She wipes her face with the sleeve of her cardigan, sniffing and clearing her throat. "Grams, I miss you." She says to the headstone. "I wish you were here." She tells her. "I wish you were here to curse my dad out about being a asshole, to help me understand…A-am I doing something wrong?" She asks. She shakes her head, sighing again, brushing her curly hair away from her face, using her sleeve to wipe the drying tears. Bonnie leans forward, "I just really wish you were here." She repeats. "I can't do this on my own…I don't think I'm strong enough."

* * *

Elena Gilbert can tell from the swell of Bonnie Bennett's usually bright green eyes that something is bothering her. She stops her hunt for a frying pan to greet Bonnie with a genuine smile. Bonnie smiles back, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Elena asks her, watching as Bonnie bends into the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water standing upright and closing it. She twists the cap off of the bottle, lifting it to her lips before answering Elena with a slight shrug of her shoulders and a weak smile.

"I'm fine." She says. Elena supposes she understand why she doesn't want to speak about it, Bonnie doesn't like crying. She says it makes her feel weak and vulnerable and after being abandoned by her mother, neglected by her father and finding her grandmother dead on her kitchen floor, it's the last feeling that she wants to experience. Her grandmother was always strong for her and when she was alive, she'd allow herself to cry about her parents, wondering if they even really loved her in the first place, and deciding that if they did would they allow her to feel this way? Would they allow their only child to feel worthless? Doubtful. But now as an adult, with her grandmother long gone, she has to be strong for herself. So, Elena Gilbert understands why she's saying she's fine even though she can tell she isn't, it's the same thing Elena told everyone when her parents died, mostly because she felt she'd passed the time allotted to feel sorry for yourself, to be sad of their deaths and that was only because it seemed people had stopped caring that she and her younger brother were sad about it.

"Okay." Elena says. She also understands that Bonnie doesn't want to talk about it. She usually let whatever happens when she visits her grandmother stay there, it was her thing. So she tried her best not to pry and tried her best to give her the space she silently requested while still being close enough to pull her friend into a hug and comfort her, and pry when she felt she needed to. "Hey," Elena says after a moment. "Do you know where the –"

"It's in the cabinet below the microwave." Bonnie tells her, sure of what she's going to ask her before she even says it. Elena stares after her friend as she heads to her respective bedroom and closes the door. She remembers the day Bonnie told her that she could predict things and they'd come true, she predicted Heath Ledgers death, Obama's presidency and even Jeremy's brief crush on her back in high school. Along the years after her grandmother told her she was a psychic, Bonnie managed to predict a multitude of things, but tried her best to think nothing of it. Sometimes Elena would begin to say something and Bonnie would answer her before Elena could get the words" Where, what, when, why or how" out. It had at once freaked her out and like Bonnie, Caroline and Elena liked to believe that it was just a weird coincidence the fact that she knew what someone was going to say or do before they did it sometimes. But since the time when Bonnie predicted her History teachers death back in eleventh grade, when she kept seeing the same three numbers everywhere 8, 14, 22 and in school that day it had meant nothing, though she had wondered if it did. But by that evening when their friend Matt Donavon happened upon Mr. Tanner's body in the student parking lot after the game and Bonnie saw those reoccurring numbers from earlier in the form of actual signs, Building 8, where the sports equipment was located, just a few feet away from the student parking lot, the number 14 on the license plate of the car where Tanner's body was found directly beside and the parking space 22 where his body after being tossed to the side happened to land. After that event Elena quickly stop thinking of Bonnie's gift for foresight as a coincidence and more of just that, a gift. She'd never voiced her opinions about it to Bonnie. Sometimes Elena wondered how her best-friend could continue to think of it as nothing, how she could continue to not think of it after everything she'd happen to have seen.

Elena's Aunt Jenna always said, mostly in regards to her younger brother Jeremy that: People recognize what they want to recognize. She'd been at the time discussing her brothers _Dark phase_ after their parents death, when he fell into drugs and girls like Vicki Donavon and began to neglect things like school work and attending class, but the same applied she believes.

Bonnie only recognized her foresight as mere coincidence, sometimes she likened it to being so close to her friends that she can simply tell what they're thinking, but it never ceases to wow her, no matter _what_ it is.

* * *

Bonnie wakes late the next morning feeling significantly brighter and better than the evening before, pulling her tightly coiled hair into a bun on top of her head, the hairstyle her other roommate-slash-best friend Caroline Forbes donned as the: "Drunk Girl" hairstyle. She moves from her room hoping to claim the bathroom before her roommates get the chance, happy to see the room free for once as she steps inside and shuts the door behind her. She moves through her morning routine quickly, stepping out of the bathroom, dressed in dark jeans and the long-sleeved white shirt with the word Mystic printed on the right side.

Elena is in the kitchen already, and Bonnie thanks her early rising roommate for the already brewed coffee.

"You've got to work tonight?" Elena asks her, though from Bonnie's apparel it's evident.

"Yeah, "Bonnie sighs. "And right after I leave the Grille I'm heading to the Library to begin writing this god awful term paper." She says frowning deeply. Elena mimics her frown, regarding her friend with her narrowed brown eyes.

"Is this the same term paper you've been complaining about, saying you were going to head to the library to write for the past two weeks?" Elena asks her pouring coffee into a white mug with the words: "I hate Mondays" printed onto it. She places the mug on the Island counter right in front of Bonnie.

"Thanks." Bonnie tells her, grabbing for her favorite French Vanilla cream and the container filled with sugar. Elena watches in distaste as she mixes her ingredients into her coffee, Elena prefers her coffee black. "Well, yeah." Bonnie says, incapable of lying. "But working and studying for my finals for my other classes have taken up most of my time." She tells her, lifting her mug to her lips and taking a tentative sip. "What about you, plans for the night?"

"Ah, I have a date." Elena says grinning widely. Bonnie can't help the way her own lips stretch into a smile.

"Is this the same guy?" Bonnie asks her.

"Yeah, he's just so sweet!" Elena gushes.

"Who is?" Caroline inquires as she steps into the kitchen, still dressed in her pajamas, as she reaches for her mug and pours herself a cup of coffee. She leans across the counter, stealing Bonnie's spoon as she shovels several spoonful's of sugar into her own cup.

"Stefan, the guy Elena's been seeing. She's seeing him again tonight."

"What is this? Like, the fifth date?" Caroline asks her.

"The sixth actually." Elena corrects. "Why do you ask?"

"When are you going to jump his bones?" Caroline asks her. Leave it to Caroline Forbes to have sex on the brain and it makes sense because it's how she earned the identifier of man-eater in high school. She was never really one to settle down, she liked having her options and her options never really cared much because they liked having her.

Bonnie laughs at her friend, watching as Elena's face reddens a bit. "It's not always about sex, Caroline." Elena says. "I learned that hopping right into it doesn't really bode well for a relationship, which is what I want, I mean look what happened to Matt and me." She says. Elena and Matt had fallen into bed together and though it did inspire some romantic feelings, they were more from his end of the deal than her own. They'd called it quits, but remained friends to this day.

"I _still_ think you're insane for that one." Caroline says. "My room _is_ next door, ya' know." She says and Bonnie doesn't think it's possible, but Elena's face reddens more. "I mean if you've forgotten how easy it is, I'll explain: Boy likes girl, girl likes boy: Sex." She says.

"Some people like to wait." Bonnie says, coming to Elena's defense.

"Obviously." Caroline says, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, if it helps I'll make myself scarce tonight." Caroline tells her, ignoring Elena's arguments and Bonnie's playful glares at her quip about waiting.

"That way, while we're out you can be as loud as you want without being afraid of disturbing us." Caroline tells her. Bonnie leans over to whisper, but loud enough for Elena to hear: "Not as if us being here would stop her." And she and Caroline fall into a fit of giggles.

"I am not _that _loud!" Elena protests.

"Maybe not, but these walls are mighty thin." Bonnie tells her. Caroline continues to laugh.

"I should go." Bonnie tells them, placing her now empty mug into the sink.

"I thought you didn't have to be to work until four." Caroline says, watching as her friend gathers her purse and jacket to leave.

"I do," Bonnie tells her. "I'm just going to run a few errands before my shift." Bonnie reassures her, as she glances at the clock, reading the time as eleven AM. "I'll see you guys later." She tells them.

* * *

The woman with the graying red-hair, vibrant green eyes and Irish brogue that insists that Bonnie calls her "Granny McLaughlan" glances up when the bell above the door to her small shop chimes. The smell of herbs and spices mix with Mrs. McLaughlan's strong perfume causing Bonnie to cough lightly. The smell doesn't bother Mrs. McLaughlan's and Bonnie supposes she's use to it, considering she's been running this shop for damn near her entire life: Mrs. McLaughlan's words, not her own. Karen McLaughlan and Sheila Bennett had grown to know one when Sheila Bennett would pay her old shop a visit. It started as a slow acquaintance and quickly grew into something akin to sisterhood. They shared spells and secrets and Mrs. McLaughlan had even grown to think of the Bennett's as family. And it is safe to say that due to Karen's close friendship with Sheila that Bonnie not only trusted her, but trusted her judgement.

Mrs. McLaughlan, best known as Granny McLaughlan greets Bonnie with a bright smile and an extending of her arms, as she welcomes Bonnie into an awkward hug as they reach over the counter.

"What brings you my way dearie?" She asks her, going back to the task of rearranging the display items.

"Mrs. McLaughlan," Bonnie begins. "Do you really believe in witches?" She asks her softly. Mrs. McLaughlan stops rearranging the knick-knacks giving Bonnie her full attention.

"I don't think I'd still be running this God forsaken shop if I didn't." She answers. "What makes you ask this?" She inquires.

Bonnie leans closer. "Could we go somewhere and talk?" She asks her.

"Of course." Mrs. McLaughlan answers. Her shop despite its prime location doesn't get much business which is mostly due to the fact of the devout people in town that liken the craft to demon possession and devil worship, so she doesn't bother with locking the door, besides if someone was to walk in the bell would signal it. Mrs. McLaughlan leads Bonnie through an archway to the area where she keeps her books about the craft and her infused plants, to a curtained archway. She lifts the curtain, motioning for Bonnie to enter into the room. She does as she is instructed, admiring the small room with the round table, two chairs and a small kitchen area.

"Would you like some tea?" Mrs. McLaughlan offers her but Bonnie politely declines. "Well, what do you want to speak about dearie?" She questions, lifting her tea-cup to her lips and taking a sip.

"My grandmother told me I was a witch when I was sixteen." Bonnie tells her. "I didn't want to believe her because it didn't make sense. Witches aren't real." She says and then she laughs, because a part of her still doesn't believe it, a very prominent part of her is saying that this is insane; you're just really good at guessing. "I mean, you knew her. She liked to drink a lot." Bonnie shrugs.

"Do not speak ill of the dead." Mrs. McLaughlan says abruptly.

"I'm just saying that it doesn't make sense…But…"

"But what, child?" She asks her, encouraging her to continue.

"B-but I can see things that other people can't, I feel things that my friends don't notice, I can tell them what they're going to say before they say it." Bonnie says. "I can predict things."

"Why don't you believe that you're a witch?" Mrs. McLaughlan asks her. "If you can do these things, why do you continue to fight what your grandmother told you? She wouldn't lie to you." Mrs. McLaughlan tells her.

"I know Gram's wouldn't lie to me!" Bonnie says immediately. "It's just…Is that even possible?" She asks her.

"If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, chances are…" Mrs. McLaughlan trails and Bonnie almost laughs because it's something her grandmother would say.

"Do not doubt your abilities, Bonnie." Mrs. McLaughlan says. "Do not doubt your grandmother." She adds.

* * *

Bonnie isn't sure why Vicki Donavon doesn't like her. She supposes it has something to do with the fact that she's friends with Elena and Elena happen to be the one girl that broke Matt's heart. They at least pretend to tolerate one another's presence at work and though Vicki isn't the biggest proprietor of propriety, she at least keeps her smart remarks and jabs to herself. But considering the fact that Bonnie doesn't really associate with the staff of The Mystic Grille, not because she doesn't want to but because she can't really find time to, she doesn't doubt that Vicki talks shit about her when she isn't around. She's that juvenile. Bonnie remembers graduating high-school several months ago so she doesn't bother to pay much attention to the girls antics, but she does however acknowledge the fact that age does not guarantee maturity considering Vicki is twenty-two years old.

"You're cutting it close." Vicki says as Bonnie quickly takes her jacket off, tying her apron around her waist.

"But I'm here." She tells her, grasping her pen and note pad and quickly going to her usual cluster of tables near the door.

Toward the end of her shift Caroline Forbes shows up, taking a seat in a booth in her co-workers section but summoning Bonnie over with a wave of her menu.

"Are you taking a break?" Caroline asks her, pouting. "I don't want to eat alone."

"I can't." Bonnie tells her. "I'm trying to get Saturday night off, so I'm working through my break tonight."

Caroline pouts more, frowning. "Fine." She says like a child attempting to come to terms with not getting her way. "Can you send my server this way then, I'm ready to order." Caroline says.

"Fine." Bonnie says mimicking her, but moving toward the kitchen to complete the task she asked of her.

Caroline glances around the restaurant in hopes of finding someone familiar to share a meal with her. Her eyes meet ice-blue eyes and pink lips curved into a smirk as he stares back at her. She allows her eyes to move over the parts of him she can see, admiring how he leans back in the booth seat, arms thrown about the tops of the leather seats, black leather jacket covering broad shoulders and a white V-neck t-shirt covering the expanse of his chest and allowing a peek of his pale neck. She licks her lips. He's a bit scruffy, not really something she's into, but with those eyes and that mouth she can quickly forgive that. She meets his eyes again, smiling.

He returns her smile.

"Hi, I'm Mena and I'll be serving you this evening. What can I get you?" She asks interrupting Caroline's silent flirting, by blocking her view of the guy she'd been engaging in eye-sex with. She quickly changes her mind on the Pepsi she'd been prepared to order, instead asking for a shot of liquid courage. Not that she ever needed it before, but a girl could never be too prepared. She takes the time to order her meal as well, asking Mena to double her order of fries because Elena will kill her if she comes home without them. When Mena leaves and Caroline fluffs her hair in hopes of engaging said beautiful eyed stranger into more than just eye-sex, she finds that he's gone and she frowns disappointed.

* * *

She sits in a secluded area of the library, surrounded by ceiling tall shelves lined with books about Europe's history. She stares at the blank Microsoft Word Document opened on her laptop, blank with exception of the heading her strict European History instructor Mr. Franklyn requires. If she's lucky, she'll pass this course with at least a C and won't have to take it again next semester. She's never been okay with mediocrity until she made the mistake of registering for his class, the instructor from hell without giving a gander. Shame on her. She'd been present to every one of his lectures, mostly because if she hadn't been there her grade would be a thousand times worst off. For fucks sake, she's paying for this education, if she wants to attend class should depend on her and not a bitter old guy that feels as if every little thing he says, even those wild tangents he goes on, like the time he likened his ex-wife to Marie Antoinette, as important an worthy of being written down.

So, here she sits, regretting bombing those two exams, it's not as if she hadn't studied, because she had, she'd study as hard as she could, it just wasn't good enough she assumes. The only thing her grade depended on at this moment was her attendance and this paper. A ferociously large pile of books documenting things that had been covered in Professor Franklyn's class looms to her right; it's intimidating how much information is in each of these books, the wide range of events she can cover in her eight page paper. The thing that bothers her about this though is that she knows how harsh a critique her instructor is and she doesn't want to write a paper confidently, thinking she's on a roll and turn it in, only to have him laugh in her face.

Because he will laugh in her face. She's seen him do it to a fellow student before, in front of the lecture class. The poor girl left humiliated and in tears.

But, her only chance to both pass the class and prove Franklyn wrong is through this paper. The words from his E-mail still pop into her head:

_I would say I regret to inform you that you have no chances of passing this course, but I'd only regret it if you'd put in some effort. If I were you, I wouldn't waste my time writing the term paper._

Bonnie just wishes her grandmother was still alive, she had once been a member of the faculty here, she's sure Sheila Bennett would feed into Professor Tanner about his attitude and propinquity for taking out the problems with his gold-digging ex-wife on students.

She shakes her head, focusing on the _Civilizations In The West_ text book before her, as if sensing her sudden focus, the lights above her flickered. Shit, is it eleven already? This is what she gets for procrastinating, waiting until this evening to find the time to write this damn paper.

Mr. Breyer the part-time librarian chose at that time to pay the European History section a visit. There he found Bonnie sitting at a table full of books.

"I didn't think anyone was still here!" He says, the older guy eyes the pile of books, curiously wondering if she plans on checking them out or if she expects him to put them back into their respective places.

"Yeah, studying always makes me lose track of time." She tells him. She hadn't really been able to afford her books for this semester, and so she'd spent everyday in the library doing homework and readings, it was the only reason why she was still here. Being a full time student and working as a part-time waitress at The Grille only went so far and she'd made it thus far with her frequent visits to the library.

"I understand, but the library's closing. Didn't you at least see the lights?" He asks her.

"Mr. Breyer, I want to ask a favor." Her frequent visits to the library, and talks with the older librarian had earned her some sort of relationship with the man, he reminded her of her late grandfather, wise and full of sayings she'd probably never understand until she was his age.

"What favor?" He asks her, he isn't smiling anymore and her charm only goes so far and she isn't so sure she can hook him long enough to get him to agree to this.

"I want to stay in the library overnight." She tells him, biting the inside of her cheek, as she watched him ponder her request. He shook his head.

"I can't do that Bonnie," He tells her. "The library closes at eleven, no exceptions. But, we open at eight AM, come back then."

"I can't Mr. Breyer!" She says in a rush. "This class is kicking my butt, my only hopes with passing is this term paper and it's sort of due tomorrow at eleven AM." She tells him sheepishly. And then she does something she regrets as soon as the words slip, it's wrong to play Mr. Breyer like this and not only that, to make excuses for herself and neglecting her responsibilities. "I've just been so busy making funeral arrangements for my grandmother and making sure my father was okay. This paper sort of just slipped my mind."

"I'm sorry Bonnie, but I can't leave you here alone." He says, regretfully shaking his head of gray hair. "Think of your father."

She does think of him.

"He knows I'm studying late." She lies; her father doesn't know a damned thing about her.

"Well, that certainly changes thing." He says. Bonnie grows hopeful.

"So you'll let me stay?"

"Oh no." He tells her. "That would be completely irresponsible on my behalf. What if something happened to you?"

"I won't leave; I'll just stay here in this spot and write my paper." She pleads.

"No Bonnie," Mr. Breyer says. "I'm sure you can get enough research done at home. There's more on the internet than there is in these books combined." He tells her. "But you have to leave the library. I'm sorry."

"Okay," She says disappointment coloring her tone. "Just let me get my things and use the restroom and I'll be out of your hair." She tells him.

"Alright, but hurry. I'm missing Jimmy Fallon." He tells her and then he heads off in the opposite direction. She takes her time, shutting down her laptop and stuffing it inside of her backpack along with her notebooks and pens. She puts the books way, albeit not taking the time to put them exactly where she finds him, but she considers this at least a little effort on her part and she heads to the restroom.

A few minutes later, Bonnie's "See you tomorrow Mr. Breyer" echoes throughout the silent library and a moment later his own goodbye echoes back. He watches as she exits the library and heads down the path on campus toward the main street where the dormitories and more than likely where her car is parked.

Bonnie Bennett creeps back into the library, through the bathroom window that she'd left open and perches on a toilet seat, waiting until she heard the door of the library shut close. She still waits a few moments before dismounting the toilet and stepping out of the stall.

Stepping out of the bathroom and into the quiet, dark library Bonnie begins to instantly regret her plan. The darkness is intimidating, but she sighs, thinking that her transcripts being free of anything lower than a C grade is more important than her previous fear of darkness creeping back on her. It just isn't the right time.

She finds her way back to the area she'd been studying at previously, placing her books back where they belong and settling under the light of the lamp in the study area, opening her laptop and grasping her Styrofoam cup of now warm coffee in her hand. Time to get to work.

Though the comfort of the silence in the library and the chair she settled against, Bonnie can't shake a feeling of unease that covers her. She knew through fact and feeling that there is no one else in the library with her, but she is tense.

Here she goes, sounding just like her grandmother. It's just your mind, she thinks.

She sighs deeply, relax and get to work.

Around four AM, yawning deeply and rubbing her eyes, Bonnie smiles appreciatively at her handy work, amazed at what she can accomplish when under time constraints and stress. She saves the document, shutting her laptop down and packing her things away. She takes the time to place the books back where she initially found them, turning off the lamp she used and making her way with the help of her flashlight app on her iPhone to the exit of the building.

Campus is dark, the ground damp from the light rain earlier that evening as Bonnie makes her way down the path leading from the Undergraduate library. This library is the newest addition to the university, built on the edge of campus, surrounded by nothing but trees and darkness on three sides. To Bonnie's right is the library and to her left the forest. Sometimes an adorable wild rabbit is spotted on campus, but aside from that Bonnie hasn't heard of or seen anything else.

She stops after a moment, glancing around her because she's sure she's heard a crack. She doesn't see anyone, which makes sense because it's four AM on during the fall semester on Campus. Of course she's the only person out here, no one else in their right mind with early classes tomorrow would be out here going for a walk or, leaving a closed library, no one else but Bonnie Bennett apparently.

She starts down the path again, disregarding the noise as yet another one of those games her mind likes to play on her. The path soon moves closer to the trees, leaving nothing but a small patch of bright green grass between Bonnie Bennett and the darkness beyond the trees.

Then it goes again, a crack. Then she hears an annoying caw, she glances up toward the top of the trees, watching a black bird as it flies above her. She curses the bird for frightening her so. She watches the bird disappear, flying to its destination and leaving her to the silence of campus and the intrusion of her own thoughts that is until she hears a growling noise.

The University had a protocol for running into wild animals on campus, but the chances of spotting a wolf on campus is rare, the pamphlet said and as of yet had never occurred. Bonnie shuts her eyes, willing the sound to just be her mind playing tricks on her, taking her unease with the dark and silence and running with it, using it to frighten her. But, then she hears the growl again, and then the snapping of a jaw. She turns her head slowly, glancing toward the expanse of trees, and staring openly at the tawny eyes staring directly back at her.

"Shit." She curses, watching as the animal makes a move to step out of the trees. She involuntarily and instinctively takes a step back, which then prompts another growl from the animal. It's a big wolf, bigger than the ones she'd seen on the Animal Planet, its fur jet black, and if she weren't completely frightened by the way it looked at her and leaned back on its hind legs as of preparing to lunge, then she supposes she'd take the time to admire the sheen of its coat. Bonnie steps back blindly, tripping backwards when her foot doesn't touch concrete, but grass slick with the moisture of the rain and she falls onto her bottom in the grass. The wolf happens to like her in this state, even more vulnerable sitting down before it than standing and preparing to run. The animal finally lunges and, mouth moist with the idea of her slim brown skin breaking under the pressure of its teeth as it tears into her neck.

Bonnie throws her arm over her face, shutting her eyes tightly and preparing for the end. She sits there for a moment, waiting for the impact to no avail. She slowly, tentatively moves her arm, glancing around for the wolf and finding it on the concrete path on its side, its neck twisted in the wrong direction.

"Shit." Bonnie says again, covering her mouth with her hand and standing, she stares at the body of the animal in awe. She's still alive. The wolf, it seems to be dead. She moves closer to it.

"You should go home." A voice says to her, she turns around quickly, observing the tall man, his dark hair, jacket, jeans and bright eyes against the pallor of his skin seem to be darker and brighter, and the white of his shirt seems to intensify the paleness of his skin.

"W-who are you?" She stutters over the words, following him with both her eyes and turning her body in every direction he moved, watching him closely as he moves to walk around her. He moves toward the body of the animal, using the toe of his boot to kick it. It moves with the movement, but aside from that the thing is still, motionless. Dead.

The man turns to her, moving at a speed that she can't comprehend and standing just before her. She isn't sure why this stranger's propinquity doesn't bother her and frankly he wonders the same thing. He stares down at her, icy blue eyes moving about her face wildly.

"Bonnie Bennett." He says her name slowly, pronouncing every single syllable, she can't tell from his tone whether she isn't living up to what he expected or she is exactly what he had in mind.

"H-how do you know me?" She asks him, still not making a move to put space between them. There's something about him that causes her to feel somewhat secure rather than afraid, repulsed or upset.

She's a pretty thing that much he'll admit, though he is significantly disappointed. For a Bennett witch she's incredibly lacking in the magic department. He uses his index finger, placing it under her chin and slowly lifting her head so that their eyes may meet. _Vibrant green meeting cool blue_. She inhales sharply, watching as his eyes leave hers briefly as he admires her neck, the smooth caramel brown column, his eyes even taking the time to dip a bit lower to her collar bone exposed by the V- shape of her own T-shirt.

He moves his finger.

"W-who are you?" She manages to stutter again, wondering half-heartedly why she's reacting this way to him. Why isn't she kicking and punching and trying to get away? She's simply standing here, asking questions that he manages to elude.

"Damon Salvatore." He tells her. She glances up at him, her eyes moving about the sharp structure of his face, the dark scruff of hair growing on his cheeks, below his nose and mouth. Her eyes find his, and from there they do not move. His gaze is hypnotic and it pulls her in, albeit slowly but pulls her in nonetheless.

"You will forget that any of this happened." He tells her. "You left the library, saw an adorable bunny and kept going." He tells her. She nods once, repeating him.

"I was leaving the library and I saw an adorable bunny." She says, smiling at the false memory.


	2. The Night Of The Comet

AU

Chapter2: The Night of the Comet/Friday Night Bites

Bonnie Bennett wakes early the following morning with a piercing head-ache just behind her eyes as she tosses her curly hair into a pony tail, pulling it away from her face and opens her bedroom door stepping into the hall, sure of not to make too much noise and rouse her roommates from their sleep. She lifts the remote from the cushion on the sofa, turning the television on and clicking away until she finds her favorite news channel. She stands there a moment, listening to the Weatherman talk about the onslaught of rain they've been receiving and how today it should be warmer before turning to head into the kitchen, but she promptly stops in her place.

The first thing she notices is the rose tattoo on the upper part of his right arm. The next thing she notices is the fact that he is shirtless. He's busing himself with something at the counter, his back to Bonnie as she, despite herself checks him out.

She assumes he's the new guy in Caroline's life, some guy she'd met at the University bookstore. She watches the muscles in his back attentively, wondering if her obsession with muscular backs is normal. Elena Gilbert chooses at that time to pop up beside Bonnie, if Bonnie was capable of being snuck up on, she would have jumped, but she had known she was coming.

"Who's this?" Bonnie whispers to Elena.

"That is Stefan." Elena tells her with a smug smile, taking the time to admire his back as well. Bonnie glances at Elena, taking in her disheveled hair and rosy cheeks.

"No kidding?" Bonnie says, grinning at Elena and glancing back at Stefan. "That's a hot back." She says in appreciation. She turns back to Elena, leaning over to whisper. "He spent the night?" She asks her. Elena simply grins, nodding the affirmative.

At that moment Stefan decides to turn, leaning against the counter he glances at Elena, giving her a small smile before giving Bonnie his attention.

"Good morning." He tells her, he sets the piece of toast he'd made onto his plate, wiping his hands free of crumbs onto his dark jeans and extending his hand for her to shake. He gifts her with a charming smile. "You must be Bonnie." He says, and she accepts his hand, shaking. "I've heard a lot about you."

When his skin touches her she falls into darkness, her eyes though open are no longer seeing Stefan Salvatore standing in her kitchen, but light green eyes darkening, with black veins surfacing around them. Her senses are overcome with the intensity of whatever it is she's seeing, the image fades to darkness and cold and she feels frightened despite herself. Bonnie blinks, pulling her hand away with a gasp. "What happened to you?"

"Bonnie?" Elena calls to her, placing her hand on her shoulder and with the touch dispelling some of the apprehension.

"I'm fine." She says with a small laugh, quieting both her and Elena's worry. She glances up at Stefan, wondering curiously if he felt that, if he'd see that, but all she can see are his eyes, the same shade of green as the ones she'd just seen shrouded in darkness, shrouded in concern below his furrowed eyebrows.

"Sorry about that. I've got the world's worst headache." She says, shaking her head as if to dispel the pain along with the anxiety.

"I've already told you the cure to that." Caroline says suddenly, stepping into the kitchen. She's staring down at her cell phone.

"Sex is not the answer to everything." Bonnie says to her friend, thanking Stefan with a small smile for brewing the coffee and quickly stepping around him to grab her cup. Elena links her arm through Stefan's leading him to the living room sofa.

"Hey, you're like psychic and stuff. Think you could do something and get that guys number from last night?" Caroline asks Bonnie.

Bonnie laughs. "I didn't see him, you did." She tells her. "I don't even think I could do that." She tells her.

"Elena looks happy," Caroline comments watching Elena and Stefan laughing in the living room. She glances at Bonnie. "See what happens when people take my advice?" She asks her, eyebrow rising as if challenging Bonnie to dispute anything she's said. Bonnie simply rolls her eyes, sipping her coffee and leaning against the counter to watch the news from the kitchen. She stands up straight when she sees the picture of a familiar face on the screen.

"Elena turn that up please?" Bonnie asks her. Elena does as she asks her, and the four of them watch the television with rapt attention.

"Vicki Donavon the victim of an animal attack was found in the woods during a high school get together." They listen as the News Reporter, Andie Star speaks. "Deputies are urging everyone, especially the students to avoid wooded areas until the Authorities have the situation contained."

"Oh my gosh." Elena remarks, her hand on her chest.

"Why was she at a high school get together, she's older than us." Caroline says.

"I'm going to go to the hospital." She tells her friends. Leave it to Bonnie to find time to pay Vicki a visit despite the fact that she knows the girl isn't fond of her.

* * *

Matt Donovan is seated on the chair inside of Vicki's room, his head tilted awkwardly to the side as he slumbers. Bonnie doesn't want to disturb him, afraid that he's probably been her at her bedside; waiting for her to wake up and in the process had fallen asleep himself.

Bonnie stares at Vicki's body, taking in the veins visible through the grayish tone of her skin. She takes a step toward the bed, her eyes falling on her limp brown hair, then falling on the white gauze on her neck, covering where her wound was. Vicki's emits a low sound causing Bonnie to stop in her tracks and eye the girl warily. Vicki's leg moves, as if attempting to kick, her fingers twitching in her sleep. She seems to be having a nightmare. She mumbles something and Bonnie can't quite discern what she's just said, she leans forward, placing her hand on her wrist.

"Vicki?" Bonnie whispers, hoping to wake her from her dream. She twitches again, her mouth moving, but no words coming out. Then she finally says the word again: Vampire.

That can't be right, Bonnie thinks. The news said it was an animal attack. Andie Star had reported it herself, sure enough verbatim from the Sheriff's offices. It was an animal attack…so why is Vicki claiming vampire in her sleep?

Bonnie steps back from Vicki, watching as the girl calms, looking peaceful in her sleep. Bonnie blinks, once, twice. Did she just imagine that?

"Bonnie?" It's Matt, his voice lowered to a whisper as to not disturb his sister. Bonnie turns to him, greeting him with a small smile and her arms opening to receive him.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asks him.

"I will be if she is." He says, honest words. He's strained relationship with his mother and Bonnie's own nonexistent relationship with her mother is what led to their friendship, an odd thing to bond over, but they quickly became close and the crush she had on him back in middle school diminished to a small inkling of recognition of the fact that he is attractive, but he's her friend. Besides he proclaimed feelings for her best-friend. That was enough to ruin any thoughts of him that weren't platonic.

"And is she?" Bonnie asks as they remove themselves from the embrace. "What have the doctors said?" He moves closer to his sisters' bed, sitting on the edge of it, closing his hand around hers. He glances back at Bonnie.

"They say she loss a lot of blood. That we're lucky Jeremy found her when he did. And they she just needs plenty of rest."

"Jeremy?" Bonnie asks. Matt glances at her, curiously reading how she feels about that.

"Yeah, Jeremy was the one that found her. He carried her out of the woods."

"IT's good he was nearby then." Bonnie says.

"Thank you for checking on us Bonnie." Matt says, he opens his arms, pulling Bonnie into another hug.

"No problem." Bonnie tells him. "What are friends for?" She asks him. "I'll catch you later." She tells him, heading for the door, stopping to glance back at Matt.

"Matt, what did they say attacked her?"

"They said it may have been a wolf." He tells her. "Just stay out of the woods." He says in parting. Like an older brother looking out for his younger sister. Bonnie simply sends him another smile.

"Will do." She tells him. "See ya'."

* * *

"Of all places, why do we have to have lunch here?" Bonnie asks exasperated, following behind her best-friends and the hostess as she leads the way to the table outside of the Mystic Grille.

"It's our favorite spot." Caroline says. "No one told you to get a job waitressing here; you did that on your own."

"Blah blah blah." Bonnie says, mocking her.

"You're both pretty." Elena tells them, the default response whenever two of her friends were arguing over something trivial. "You don't have to work tonight, right?" Elena asks Bonnie, her brown eyes hopeful as she accepts the menu from the hostess.

"Nope, I'm free for the night of the comet."

"It's supposed to be romantic." Elena says, flipping through the menu.

"Stargazing and comet watching; boring." Caroline says, flipping through her own menu.

"My grams use to say that the comet is a sign of impending doom. That the last time it passed over Mystic Falls it caused lots of death. So much blood and carnage that it created a bed of paranormal activity."

"Way to ruin my romantic parade." Elena deadpans.

"Blood and carnage is romantic in someone's world." Bonnie tells her, attempting to reassure her that her romantic evening isn't completely lost.

"Eric Northmans." Caroline tells her. "Speaking of sex, how was it?" Caroline says putting her menu down on the table and leaning in with a wicked grin.

"Who was talking about sex?" Bonnie asks, glancing at Caroline.

"We actually didn't." Elena tells her. And even Bonnie finds that hard to believe, she'd woken up to him shirtless in her kitchen making coffee and toast, and even she could admit that sharing a bed with him all night would incite some less than innocent things than talking.

"What did you do?"

"We talked all night."

"All night?" Caroline asks her dubiously. "There was no sloppy first kissed? No rubbing or touching of any kind?" She asks just as the waitress approaches.

"What can I get you ladies?" She asks, pretending to not hear the sexed up conversation. Bonnie's face however reddens a bit, though it's hardly noticeable with her tanner skin tone. They make their orders, waiting to continue the conversation until their waitress returns with their drinks. As soon as she moves to service a couple a few tables away, Caroline leans in.

"Elena, we are your friends. You're supposed to share the smut."

"And you guys are hanging out again tonight?" Bonnie asks her.

"Yeah, we're meeting for the night of the comet." They pause a moment as the waitress seats their food onto the table.

"Please let me choose your outfit and do your make up." Caroline pleads. Elena looks at Bonnie, who simply just nods.

"Fine, Care." Elena says.

"Good." The blonde says in answer, reaching over the salad she ordered to pick off a few of Bonnie's fries. Bonnie slaps her hand away.

"Eat your grass!" She instructs her with a laugh, biting into a fry.

* * *

Caroline links her arm with Bonnie's, watching as Elena goes to speak to Matt. She's proud of her handiwork, silently wishing Elena would let her curl her hair instead of wearing it pin straight and boring.

Matt tips his candle, lighting the wick of Elena's. He misses her, wonders sometimes how she feels about him and if she'd ever give them another try and then other times he looks at her and rather they be friends. Maybe the timing wasn't right, or maybe they were never right for one another, no matter how often people told them they made the perfect couple.

"Thank you." She tells him, smiling when she glances back up at him.

"You're welcome." He tells her.

"How's Vicki?" She asks him.

"She's better, much better. She should be here soon actually."

"That's one hell of a recovery." Elena tells him.

"I don't question it." He tells her." She's better, walking around and smiling again."

"Good." Elena tells him, smiling brightly. "I'll see you." She tells him, for lack of contact to one another and they've lost things they can talk about. She turns, stopping when she see's Stefan.

"The moment of truth." Caroline whispers to Bonnie, watching as Elena approaches him and tilts her candle so that he may light the wick of his. Bonnie glances in Stefan and Elena's direction, she can't shake the feeling from earlier when she shook his hand and it bothers her. She isn't sure what it is, but she needs to figure it out.

"Hey, you left so abruptly this morning." She comments. "Was everything alright?"

"Yeah," He tells her, he opens his mouth to speak but stops.

"What is it?" She asks him.

"My brother is in town."

"I-I didn't know you have a brother." She says. Hadn't they discussed family before, hadn't that been their first date? He'd said he didn't have any living relatives.

"We're not close." Stefan says. "It's complicated."

"Always." She says nodding in agreement. "I understand. I've got my own complicated brother." She tells him.

* * *

Bonnie decides to pay Mrs. McLaughlan another visit, adjusting the strap of her messenger bag she opens the door to the shop, the jingle of the bell above the door signaling her arrival. Karen McLaughlan surfaces from the back room, a smile spreading across her face.

"Two visits in one week." Mrs. McLaughlan says. "Either you miss me or have something on your mind." She says, stepping from behind the counter. The main floor of the shop is littered with tables stocked with herbs and spices and different items that could be used for spells, against the walls are floor to ceiling shelves full of books featuring sundry things.

"I need to ask you about something, my grandmother never really explained it to me." Bonnie tells the elder woman. She's dressed in a long flowing dress and gaudy jewels. It's funny to think of Sheila and Karen as friends considering how different they are. Where Sheila was all business with her power suits, Karen was more of a free spirit donning bright colors, weird scents and sometimes too much jewelry.

"Have you ever touched someone and received a feeling?" She asks her.

"Is this feeling of the sensual-"

Bonnie's face reddens, no matter how old she gets the idea of discussing sex openly with someone older that she considers family will always cause her face to warm. "No." She says quickly. "More of the apprehensive, warning type of feeling."

"Oh." Karen says. "You touched someone and suddenly you feel uneasy around them?" She asks her.

"Yes, that's it exactly." Bonnie tells her. "I've been trying to shake the feeling but-."

"Don't." Karen tells her. "Do not try and disregard it. Trust your feelings." She tells her.

"Right." Bonnie says, not sure if she likes the tone Karen has taken.

"Your mind is telling you something about whoever this person is and if you feel uneasy around them then it may have something to do with trusting this person. Do not ignore this feeling Bonnie." She warns her. "It could help you in the long run."

* * *

"I'm not saying don't date the guy." Bonnie says slowly. "I'm just saying take it slow." She keeps her tone upbeat and light as to not incite worry in her best friend. She just needs to know that she's safe and until she can figure out where this feeling of unease about Stefan is stemming from, she'd feel better if she knew that Elena wasn't rushing into it with him.

"Yesterday you were all for he and I!" Elena says. "Why the about face?"

"It's not an about face." Bonnie says shrugging. "You're young, you're single. Why not play the field?" Bonnie asks her. Elena stops walking, halting Bonnie as well. Students quickly change course, walking around them instead of with them.

She laughs, "Because I'm so that girl. What are you not saying?" She asks her best-friend. Elena has always trusted Bonnie's judgments; she had a way of looking at things with an unbiased opinion which is why Elena always found herself talking to her about everything it seemed. Aside from her diary, Bonnie Bennett knew the most about Elena Gilbert.

"It's stupid." Bonnie dismisses it and moves to start walking again. Elena grabs her arm, stopping her.

"Bonnie, spit it out."

"When I shook Stefan's hand I got a really weird feeling." She tells her.

"Is that it?" Elena asks her.

"Look, I'm just expressing concern, okay?" Bonnie tells her. "I don't know, I had a headache and my mind was everywhere when we met. I just need to figure this out."

"I understand, but I feel good. Maybe it _was_ something else." Elena says her own attempt at dismissing it. Certainly no one that makes her feel this good about herself could inspire bad feelings in anyone else, right?

"Elena," Stefan says stepping in front of the girls. Bonnie stops suddenly, making sure to keep as much distance between her and Stefan as possible. That feeling from before quickly creeps back on her, she places her hand on her stomach, sighing.

"Hey, I've got to find Caroline; she's not answering her phone. I'll see you guys." Bonnie tells Elena, smiling half-heartedly at Stefan before moving around him and quickly taking off down the path. She can hear Elena calling for her to stop, but she doesn't and the further she walks away from him the better she feels. Whatever that feeling is, it's calling for her to put distance between herself and Stefan Salvatore, and she's wondering if she should do it, like Karen said or ignore it.

She just wishes she understood the nature of the feeling that blossomed in the pit of her stomach and hung along her shoulders, maybe then she'd know what to do about it and him.

* * *

Caroline Forbes smiles brightly at her reflection, tying her scarf around her neck and stepping away from the mirror. She thrust her cellphone, compact mirror and lip-gloss into her purse. Pushing her arms through the sleeves of her jacket, she heads for the door of the apartment.

"Hey, I've been calling you!" Bonnie says her gaze narrowed on Caroline.

"I know, I was going to call you back." She tells her, her expression apologetic. "I finally got that guys number," She says and she leans toward Bonnie to whisper. "And more." With a wink.

"So _that's_ where you were last-night?"

"And this morning." Caroline says, fluffing her hair.

"You worried me." Bonnie tells her. "Next time send a text or something."

"If I have time to text then he isn't doing something right." Caroline tells her. "See you later."

That following Thursday evening Elena talks Bonnie into having dinner with her and Stefan.

"What's all this?" Bonnie asks Elena when she steps into the kitchen, she removes a pint of Haagen –Dasz ice cream from the freezer, setting it on the counter and retrieving a spoon. She eyes the packaged foods on the coutner.

"I invited Stefan over for dinner tonight." Elena tells her, which prompts Bonnie to fall into a laughing fit. "And you're eating with us." Bonnie's laughing stops. "Bonnie you don't know Stefan like I know him and I bet that if you guys sat down and got to know one another you wouldn't feel the way you do about him anymore." Elena tells her. "Please have dinner with us." She pleads. Bonnie sighs heavily, wondering if maybe Elena's right. What if her not knowing him well enough is what is leading her to feel that way about him. This would be the first time Elena's ever dated someone that Bonnie had never known or met beforehand, so that could be the cause of why she feels weird around him. Besides, Stefan makes Elena happy and who is Bonnie to deny her friend of that right?

"Fine," She draws the word out dramatically. "Does Stefan know you can't cook?" She asks her, putting the ice cream, or better yet what had been her intended dinner for the night back into the freezer, watching as Elena opens the food, pouring the pasta into the green bowls she's also purchased that day.

"A girl is allowed to have secrets." She tells her, opening the other pasta and pouring it into a coordinating orange bowl.

"It's all fine and dandy until you find out he has an evil twin brother or baby mother drama." Bonnie tells her.

"He doesn't have any kids!" Elena says quickly, hoping that Bonnie's just saying this and not on one of those weird nights where she happens to speak things into existence. "Serving spoons." Elena says, opening drawers and skimming the contents.

"We have serving spoons?" Bonnie asks. Because of her class and work schedule it's rare that she finds time to cook at home, she spends most of her time catching a meal during work at The Grille or stopping somewhere quick on campus.

"Ah, here they are." She says pulling the spoons out of the drawer and setting them on the counter. A knock sounds at the door and Bonnie sighs, already feeling her body tense.

"Just be you." Elena tells her. "I'm sure you guys will be good friends." Elena tells her, trying her best to speak things into existence.

* * *

"Bonnie's major is literature." Elena says, for lack of creativity and through her nervousness she can't think of much else to say and she needs to save this evening and fix Bonnie's thoughts on Stefan. She can't imagine dating a guy her friend doesn't like, and if nothing else comes of this night she really hopes that Bonnie and Stefan become friends.

Stefan glances at Bonnie, interest coloring his expression.

"Not really something you can do anything with." She tells him. She doesn't really like talking about herself to her friends, let alone this guy she hardly knows.

"I don't agree," Stefan tells her. " I like to write myself and I believe that you should follow your interest more so than what will make you money." He says and Elena can tell from the way Bonnie's eyes light up that he's said the right things.

Bonnie doesn't want to become her parents. She doesn't want to be anything like them, abandoning their child for their own selfish reasons, she never knew why her mother left, but Bonnie always felt that if she'd meant anything to her, she would have at least packed her bag and took her with her. And her father, he'd been abandoning her for work since her mother left. Using his own plight with that situation to take up all his time, and so he buried himself in work and making money.

She didn't want to be him.

"That's something my grandmother would have said." Bonnie tells him.

"My type of woman." Stefan jokes. "Said?" he questions.

"Yeah, she died a few years back." Bonnie says and she clears her throat.

"I'm sorry." Stefan tells her and for some reason he seems so genuine in this sentiment and Bonnie can't believe she'd felt ill toward him in any way. No one that could seem to feel apologetic for the death of a love one of someone he'd just met and a person he'd never known, could make her feel that way, right? Stefan Salvatore is all charm, good looks and genuine concern and she chalks the feeling of unease that she'd gotten when she touched him to the fact that she didn't know him and that her subconscious was being pessimistic, having her look for the worse in him when she hardly knew the best.

"Thank you." Bonnie tells him and she glances at Elena, smiling softly. _Maybe Bonnie isn't the only one with that gift,_ Elena thinks.

* * *

They're seated in the living room, discussing politics and Saturday Night Live when Caroline opens the door. They hear her giggle as she says, " Come in silly." Ushering a guy inside the apartment. Bonnie looks at him, he's tall with dark hair and darker clothing and pale white skin, his eyes are a striking icy blue that stand out. His eyes move about everyone in the room, stopping on one person in particular.

Her.

"Hey you guys," Caroline greets them all brightly, gesturing toward the love seat for Damon to take a seat and she sinks down into the sat next to him. "Ooh, we have coffee." Caroline says, she asks her date if he'd like a cup and he politely declines. He smiles at her as she stands moving to retrieve a cup for herself.

His choice of clothing is simple, dark jeans, boots and a V-neck navy T-shirt that accentuates the hue of his eyes, where her eyes happen to be drawn to. His leather jacket is worn, but worn to the point that she thinks he may have purchased it that way. He lifts his hand, combing his fingers through his dark hair, something silver glinting on his finger. A Ring.

Her eyes fall from his hair to his lips, pink and forming a smirk and then she finds his eyes again, this time they're on her.

She glances away quickly, her face reddening. She'd been caught checking him out, checking Caroline's date out. She stares at her coffee cup on the table, narrowing her eyes on it as she attempts to recollect her memories, something about those eyes and that smirk was familiar and she can't quite place it. Whatever it is, it hangs just below the surface, close but not enough for her to touch, elusive on the edges as she thinks.

"I'm sorry," Elena says placing her now empty coffee cup onto the glass coffee table. "I didn't catch your name." Caroline returns, seating herself comfortably beside her date again.

"I'm sorry, how rude of me." Caroline says with a laugh. "Elena, Bonnie and Stefan." She says pointing to each person. "This," She says gesturing to her date, showcasing him as if he's a pride and she's more than a little proud to have him. "Is Damon Salvatore." She says.

"Salvatore?" Elena questions glancing from Stefan to Damon and back, searching for some sort of resemblance between them. "Your brother?" Elena whispers to Stefan, he pulls his eyes away from Damon, long enough to look at her and nod albeit almost sadly.

"I didn't know you had a brother." Bonnie says to Stefan, glancing between the two of them, wondering if one of them got their looks from their mother while the other resembled more of their father.

"Stefan doesn't like to brag." Damon says, a smile pulling at his lips. Stefan all the while keeps his glare steady. This does not pass Bonnie's radar. Unlike Caroline and Elena's she's observant and she can damn near taste the tension in the air, the disdain between the two men.

"You're last name," Bonnie says interrupting their silent tiff. "Italian, right?" She says.

"Yes." Stefan answers, smiling gratefully at Bonnie. "Italian for Savior." He informs her.

"Have you two ever been?" She asks. "I've always wanted to go."

"I've visited before." Damon says. "But I like it here in Mystic falls more." Damon says.

"That's so cool." Caroline comments about him visiting Italy at the same time that Bonnie scrunches up her nose and asks him: "Why?"

"The town has such rich history." He tells her. "It's amazing the things that happened here back in the 1800's." He says.

"Like slavery?" She deadpans, an eyebrow raised in question. Damon leans forward, his eyes on hers.

"More like _supernatural_." He tells her. She holds his gaze for a moment, glancing away. "Not to mention how the family lines continue to this day, like the Lockwood's for instance." He says.

"You know a lot about history." Elena comments.

"It was my major." He shrugs.

* * *

"Did you see the way they looked at each other?" Bonnie asks Elena as they clean the kitchen. She said goodbye to Stefan less than ten minutes ago and Caroline and Damon are in her room doing God knows what.

"What do you mean?" Elena asks her, placing the plate she just rinsed into the dishwasher.

"They looked like they hate each other." Bonnie tells her. "You could cut the tension with a knife!" She exclaims passing Elena a bowl this time.

"Stefan told me his relationship with his brother is complicated." She says with a shrug. "He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it, so I didn't pry."

"It doesn't bother you?" She asks her. "The fact that he and his brother have serious issues?"

"I mean what family doesn't have serious issues?" Elena reasons and Bonnie can't help but to think of her own family, to be honest they didn't even deserve the word.

"Yeah, I suppose your right." She says and sighs. "There's something very familiar about him." She tells Elena. "I just can't place it."

"Maybe he ate at the Grille before?" Elena says shrugging.

"Maybe."

* * *

Sorry BabyShan I thought I included breaks. In my rush to post I forgot to include them.

I'm taking my time with this story, hence the slow pace but this is when the story line takes a turn and we dig a little into the history of Mystic Falls.


End file.
